


Memories of Old

by LupitaBadu



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Discovery, Gen, Kakashi - Freeform, alternative, naruto - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 11:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17662196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LupitaBadu/pseuds/LupitaBadu
Summary: Kakashi mistakes his old teammate for an old friend.





	Memories of Old

He spotted her first by accident, lifting his face from out of the book in front of him only to navigate around a sudden knot of people on the street. With nowhere important to be, nothing on his mind but for a vague thought that his fridge was getting a little empty, Kakashi blinked at the people dodging around him with no more than the vague disinterest of a shinobi awaiting his next mission. As much as his body desperately needed the vacation time which Sandaime-sama had ordered him to take, his mental state deteriorated with every passing day. If he wasn’t careful he would find himself seeking out Gai and his silly challenges just out of sheer boredom.

Shuffling to one side so an old lady could squeeze her shopping passed him, he sighed and glanced around to make sure the foot traffic would ease up soon, wanting to sink back in to his novel. When he spotted her for the first time it felt as though his entire body hiccupped, contracting and expanding all at once as he tried to process what he knew to be impossible.

That could not be Rin a mere few meters away.

And yet, it looked exactly like her – perhaps aged by the handful of years since her death but still identical in all the ways that mattered. Her hair was the same shade of brown, swaying in the wind as she laughed with whoever walked next to her. The smile was the same, as was the way it pulled at the purple clan markings on her cheeks, and just looking at her stole the breath from his lungs until he realized that he was gasping as he watched her walk away. All the rest of the world faded to white noise and left him with nothing but the ghost of his long-dead friend turning a corner and the fading whispers of her laughter in his ear. 

By the time he was able to shake off his stupor and dash after the strange vision she was gone but Kakashi remained shaken for the rest of the day. Was he going crazy? Could his subconscious be trying to tell him something about her? Something unrelated to the recurring nightmares he still suffered from, hopefully. Those gave him enough grief as it was.

For two days Kakashi wandered around the village with his head stuck somewhere between the clouds and the past, sleeping in fits and unable to think of anything but Rin. On the third day he returned to the street where he had seen her ghost and perched himself on the edge of a nearby rooftop, letting his eyes scan the crowds, still trying to find a reason. Why now? Admittedly, he was far from over her death. Kakashi very much doubted that he would ever be able to get over her death but that didn’t mean she needed to come haunt him and cause even more guilt.

The second time he saw her, his attention was just as absent as the first time. His eyes were caught on a bakery’s display of delicious looking muffins when she walked right past his line of sight as though she had any right to even exist here in this moment. Kakashi very nearly fell off the roof in his scramble to follow. This time he was determined to suss out any answers he could about this strange vision.

He followed her for three blocks, watching the way familiar hands – healer’s hands – drew patterns in the air while she spoke, frowning because he could never remember her having that habit before. As she reached the edges of the shopping district her companions separated to head in another direction, leaving her to travel on alone. Kakashi followed still. His feet made no noise on the roof tiles and he made sure to keep himself at an angle which would cast no shadow nor carry his scent on the breeze.

Which was why it was such a shock when she spun around two streets later to glare in a vaguely upward direction, her brown eyes so familiar as they searched the rooftops that his heart thudded painfully in his chest.

“Who’s there?” she called out. Kakashi almost bit his tongue at the sound of her voice. For a moment he considered not revealing himself but in the end he decided there would be little point in hiding. She was here for him, wasn’t she?

He hopped down a short way in front of her, watching intently and noting the way she neither drew back nor stepped forward in recognition. Instead she huffed and crossed her arms.

“Why are you following me?” she demanded. Memories filled his mind of that same tone scolding him for various misdeeds and it was almost more than he could handle. He missed her so much, missed all of his teammates so much, yet here she was standing before him after all this time.

“Rin,” he breathed, watching her jerk in surprise. “You’re here.”

“Oh!”

“I don’t know why and I don’t care. I’ve missed you.”

Suddenly it was as though he could no longer bear his own weight. In four quick steps Kakashi was close enough to throw his arms around this vision of his lost friend, somehow older despite what his memories told him could be true, and hold her as tightly as he dared.

At first she stood completely still under his display of affection, making him worry he was about to wake up from some sort of dream. Then he felt a small hand softly patting him on the back a couple of times before gently trying to separate them. After a moment of reluctance he loosened his arms and backed away, swallowing thickly at the sight of her up close. It couldn’t possibly be anyone else.

“You knew my sister,” the girl in his arms murmured. Kakashi stiffened.

“Beg pardon?”

“My twin sister. You knew Rin.” When she smiled at him it was a ghost from his past smiling from between too many memories. “I miss her too. And…I’m sorry about the confusion. But it’s nice to know that someone other than me still thinks of her, even this long…after…”

Kakashi stumbled back as though burned. “Sister. You’re – oh. Oh kami. I’m so sorry!”

“No, its fine!” Tucking her hair behind one ear, the girl grinned. “My name is Nohara Nao. And you?”

“H-Hatake Kakashi. I do apologize, Nao-san. She never mentioned having a twin.”

“That sounds like her. We were young and we squabbled a lot. But even on the days we got along she used to tell me that I was her favorite secret, that she wanted to keep me safe by keeping me hidden.” Her eyes grew distant in a way that Kakashi could more than sympathize with, for which he was almost thankful. It gave him a few moments to collect himself after acting like such a fool.

Of course his friend had not returned from the dead. How could he not having considered a relative of some sort? It made much more sense than ghosts wandering around Konoha and chatting up the citizens.

Feeling like an idiot, he sighed and rubbing at the back of his neck. He wondered if Nao was aware of how her sister had died.

“Please forgive my behavior and excuse me, Nao-san. I hope the rest of your day is pleasant.” With that he offered a polite bow and turned to take his leave – but he was stopped by a gentle hand on his wrist, more effective than any iron shackles could have been.

“Would…you like to hear stories about Rin?” Nao flushed and looked up at him shyly. “I don’t have anyone else left to talk about her with. Won’t you stay?”

It took effort to speak past the lump in his throat but he managed, if just barely. “Yes. Please. I would like that.”


End file.
